Long list of conditions for Trans Mountain approval

The National Energy Board has released a draft list of 145 conditions for approval of Kinder Morgan Canada’s oil pipeline expansion project, including environmental protection plans for land and marine operations.

Conditions include the possibility of dredging for the expansion of the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, where the original Trans Mountain pipeline has delivered crude oil and refined products since 1953.

Kinder Morgan is proposing to twin the line to ramp up shipments of diluted bitumen from northern Alberta that began intermittently in the late 1980s. The $5.4 billion expansion project would nearly triple the line’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day, resulting in a seven-fold increase in oil tankers entering and leaving Vancouver harbour.

Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson said Thursday the company will be seeking clarification on the timing of some of the conditions, and will file its comments to the NEB review panel Aug. 20. Most major conditions, including plans for watercourse crossings along the route, are to be filed at least 90 days before construction begins.

“Our initial review of the draft conditions is that they are rigorous but achievable,” Anderson said.

NEB hearings are to resume Aug. 24, where the B.C. government is expected to formalize its position, based on Premier Christy Clark’s five conditions for new heavy oil pipelines. They include a “world-class” spill response capability on land and sea, approval and benefit sharing by affected First Nations, and a still-undefined “fair share” of benefits for the province.

Those conditions were included in B.C.’s position opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which the federal government approved with its own list of more than 200 conditions. The province does not have authority to veto either pipeline project, as each would run from Alberta to B.C.

Draft conditions for Trans Mountain include identification of all sites on the proposed second line affected by earthquake, including the “Holocene for Sumas Fault, Vedder Mountain Fault, Fraser River-Straight Creek Fault and Rocky Mountain Trench, as well as other possible hidden faults.”

Conditions also include submitting records of landowner consultation on the route, and a plan for aboriginal participation in monitoring construction.